The lower blood C-reactive protein concentration and fewer radiologically documented lung consolidations in infants with recurrent wheezing than in nonwheezing infants

We agree with M. Korppi and co-workers that some controversies remain in defining bronchiolitis. The North American definition of bronchiolitis includes the first episode of acute viral wheeze occurring in infants ,2 yrs of age [3], thus probably overlapping early asthma manifestations. Defining bronchiolitis according to strict clinical criteria that exclude wheeze ensured the availability of homogeneous studies suitable for investigating epidemiological, clinical and prognostic factors in infants with bronchiolitis. As JARTTI et al. [4] underlined, if poorly defined, the diagnosis of bronchiolitis is likely to include various disease entities differing in immunopathogenesis according to viral aetiology, wheezing phenotype and preceding inflammatory state (atopy or no atopy). Another future research direction could be whether the aetiology differs in infants ,12 months of age with lower respiratory infections with and without wheeze.